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Tag Archives: Decorah Eagles

I’m saddened this week, along with so many of my colleagues, by the loss of a popular and pioneering member of the Ustream community. Bob Anderson, founder of the Raptor Resource Project and creator of the Decorah eagle cam, passed away yesterday after an illness. I met Bob almost eight years ago as he explored how to bring global attention to his cause. He shared his vision on how he wanted to use our video streaming platform to help generate awareness for bird conservation. Over the years, I developed a close personal relationship with him and had tremendous respect for the man and his work. His passion for raptors and bird conservation was contagious.

Bob pushed the technological edge to educate and inspire millions around the globe. His partnership with Ustream began in 2008, 10 years after Bob’s first birdcam “Mae’s Internest birdcam” was launched to capture images of ospreys, kestrels, owls and eagles for the world. Ultimately, Bob’s Decorah Eagle Cam became the most popular live stream of all time with over 324 million views. He brought this American icon closer to us than ever before. From live scenes of a mother using her brood patch to warm her eggs while buried deep in the snow to “pipping” to watching these young hatchlings grow and mature — these were annual journeys which millions followed and experienced together in real time.

Bob visited the Ustream offices numerous times and we hosted him at an annual company meeting in the past. He will be sorely missed. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his family, Amy Ries and the Raptor Resource Project family, and the Eagle cam community.

Bob, you will be missed by millions. Thank you for bringing us all “On The Wings of Eagles.”

A Ustream channel broadcasting from a certain livecam in Decorah, Iowa has become the latest Internet video sensation. In fact, it is possibly the most popular live video of all time with more than 309 million views and 94,000 subscribers.

The camera, operated by the Raptor Research Project, is located above a bald eagle nest, and last Wednesday night it captured the mother eagle laying her first egg of 2015. By Thursday morning, the channel has racked up an additional 181,000 views.

The Decorah eagles aren’t the only feathered friends building a worldwide audience on Ustream. The OKC Great Horned Owl-Cam channel broadcasts live from a second-story planter ledge at a home in Oklahoma City, where a family of Great Horned Owls made its home in 2012. Now in “Season 4,” the channel has more than 9,000 subscribers and has amassed more than 5.7 million views worldwide.

While these windows into nature are always appealing to a broad audience, they are also a testimonial to the power of live video. Live video is a powerful, tool engaging people with emotional content. Yet, it enables the broadcaster to reach a much larger audience than would ever be possible in-person at a live event. That’s why live video as a communications tool is gaining traction in the enterprise and being used to share exciting corporate events like conferences, product launches, shareholder meetings, executive presentations, trainings, and more.

Here are a couple of tweets you can use if you’d like to share this exciting event with others:

It’s been a great year at Ustream, and before we look forward to 2012, we wanted to take a moment to look back at the moments that defined Ustream over the past year. It’s an eclectic grouping–where else can you see a celebrity become unhinged, a world tragedy play out before your eyes, and America’s national bird hatching in a nest in Iowa???

HighlightsByLakeshia Proudly Presents:

The Hatch of Decorah Eaglet E-3

We laughed, we cried, we watched over 200 MILLION times. The Decorah Eagles are easily the biggest celeb on Ustream (sorry Beliebers) and their fanbase is 2nd to none.

Now that our beloved Eaglets have fledged, many fans are taking a walk, er flight down memory lane, reliving all those precious moments we witnessed over the last couple of months. Thanks to the release of never seen footage on the Decorah Channel, and my keen eagle eye senses (pun intended) l am proud to present one of my finest highlights: The hatching of E-3!

Hold the applause please, I have more news! As I continue to review all the wonderful footage Bob has been so gracious to let us watch, I will continue to post every golden moment I find on a weekly basis. Highlights will be added weekly of Decorah moments that made us fall head over heels (er, talons) with the Decorah Eagles every week.

I am proud to present, for the very first time, the actual hatching of Decorah Eaglet E-3 on Ustream

(Tip: If your eyes get a little watery, just blame it on allergy season)

We all knew there would be an adjustment period–a grieving period if you will–following the shut-down of the Decorah Eagle Cam on July 29th. After all, many “eagleholics” devoted the past 6 months of their lives to tracking the developments and progress of the eaglets. However, the outpouring of grief was so profound and so heart-wrenching that Ustream decided to work with the Raptor Resource Project to bring the cam back to life. So we’re happy to announce that as of today, the cam is back on!

[clear here]
And there is one major notable improvement…you may notice there’s a map in the Channel info section. This map is updated weekly and tracks the path of the eaglets now that they’re fully grown and exploring their world. One of the eagles (dubbed, “D1”) has been equipped with a tracking device that allows RRP Executive Director Bob Anderson to closely monitor the eagle’s whereabouts. The tracking device will also allow eagleholics to obsessively monitor and track where they’ve flown off to!

The eagles have fledged, but there’s still plenty to see from the cam. Stay tuned and you may just see them alighting on the old familiar branch where we all watched them grow and learn to fly…far above the rolling hills and bucolic farmland of Decorah, Iowa.